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Ombudsman makes maladministration finding against landlord that took eight years to solve roof leak
The Housing Ombudsman has made two findings of severe maladministration against Shepherds Bush Housing Group (SBHG) after the landlord took eight years to identify the cause of a leak in a resident’s roof.
In a report published today, the Housing Ombudsman said it took SBHG an “unreasonable” amount of time to diagnose the problem, while the landlord also came under fire for its complaint-handling process.
According to the ombudsman, the resident of the property, who is a shared owner, had reported “water ingress many times over a number of years”.
SBHG carried out repairs between 2014 and 2018, but the leak had reoccurred.
The resident made a formal complaint in 2019, which led to SBHG carrying out some more repairs, but the leak persisted.
In response to the complaint, SBHG apologised to the resident and offered them £1,208 in compensation.
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The landlord told the ombudsman it had identified the cause of the water ingress and carried out work, but would wait for heavy consistent rain until it knew whether the work had been successful.
However, the resident has informed the ombudsman that the leak is still ongoing.
In its review of the case, the ombudsman found severe maladministration in SBHG’s response to reports of the water ingress and severe maladministration for its complaint-handling, noting that it took over two years for the resident to exhaust the landlord’s internal complaints process.
The watchdog has ordered SBHG to pay compensation of £775 in addition to the £1,208 it has already paid.
The ombudsman also ordered the landlord to carry out a management review of the case to identify learning to include staff training, policies and procedures on repairs and staff training on complaint-handling.
Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway said it was “appalling and unacceptable” that a resident was forced to live with a “serious” problem in their home for eight years.
He added that “poor record keeping” limited the ombudsman’s ability to properly investigate the case.
In a statement, SBHG said it “apologises unreservedly for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident”.
It said its executive team has completed a number of actions to avoid a similar situation occurring again, including the establishment of new case and block management frameworks and a new complex works team.
SBHG has also established a new resolutions team and has two dedicated officers responsible for complaints investigation and resolution.
The landlord has also begun the process of replacing the roof of the building in question, with work expected to be complete later this year.
The ombudsman’s finding comes two weeks after the English regulator found that SBHG was non-compliant with its governance standard for a separate issue related to its board oversight of its financial affairs.
SBHG is currently in the process of working with the Regulator of Social Housing to improve its governance rating and has appointed a new chair to oversee the process.
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